Virginia Crime Commission will investigate reports that inmates are being abused at Red Onion Prison
Red Onion prison in Wise County, Va., as it neared completion. AP photo.
By the Associated Press
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A state crime panel will look into complaints that Virginia’s first "supermax" prison is mistreating inmates, subjecting them to excessive force and holding less violent inmates who don’t belong with the facility’s extremely dangerous criminals, a panel member said Monday.
Del. Jim Almand, an Arlington Democrat and a member of the Virginia Crime Commission, said the commission will review information on the Red Onion State Prison from critics of the prison and from the Department of Corrections.
Almand’s comment came after several members of the legislature called for the General Assembly to look into allegations made by Human Rights Watch, a New-York-based group that recently released a report criticizing Red Onion.
Based on interviews with prisoners, the group claimed that racism, excessive violence and inhumane conditions reign inside the prison. Department of Corrections Director Ron Angelone said in a statement that the report released April 19 by Human Rights Watch contained misrepresentations and factual errors.
The Department of Corrections has said super-maximum prisons were designed for the most dangerous of inmates and those destined to die in prison by virtue of their long sentences. But in reality, according to Human Rights Watch, some prisoners at Red Onion are serving relatively short terms and could soon re-enter society.
Critics say putting short-term inmates in the state’s toughest prisons — which offer little in the way of rehabilitation and treatment programs — and then releasing them could constitute a threat to public safety.
The supermaxes are designed to hold a combined 2,400 inmates, with about 700 of those in 23-hour-a-day solitary confinement cells. Those not in solitary can spend up to several hours a day outside their cells and hold jobs in the kitchen or laundry to earn money. But there is no law library, little job training and only one classroom.
"I think that’s just letting potential time bombs loose into society," said Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, a member of the crime commission.
Several lawmakers said last week that the crime commission meeting could be just the first step in a review of the state’s super-maximum prisons. Additional inquiries also could be conducted by the legislature’s Appropriations and Courts of Justice Committees.
"I think we need some legislative oversight into what is being done," said Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke. "If they’re just warehousing these people, especially people who are going to get out, there’s a public safety issue there."
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, is skeptical of the criticism but said it would be a legitimate concern if the two super-maximum prisons in far southwest Virginia might hold inmates serving as little as five years.
Red Onion still had empty beds at the time the second supermax prison, called Wallens Ridge, opened two weeks ago.
Although correctional officials have said there are plenty of dangerous inmates to fill both facilities, Virginia has been taking inmates from other states to accommodate a surplus of about 3,000 prison beds. Some of those out-of-state inmates are pulling time at Red Onion.
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Published April 26, 1999
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